Fated Encounter (5)
Fated Encounter (5)
She must have gone senile.
Otherwise, there is no way to explain why she did something this insane.
That was the conclusion I reached as I watched Odin modify the incoming missiles and send them right back where they came from.
The city, swallowed by a massive inferno, turned to ashes without even a chance to scream.
To be honest, I have no idea what those guys were thinking when they attacked Asgard.
Did they really feel like picking a fight even after seeing the prowess of the Valkyries, who wiped out monsters they couldn't even handle in an instant?
Or did they think that if they just took care of Asgard, everything else would somehow work out?
If so, they were wrong—dead wrong.
Odin is stronger than all the Valkyries combined, and her personality isn't so pushover-like that she would mercifully overlook an attack on Asgard.
The domains she presides over as a god are madness and war.
On top of that, as the Main God, her power is greater than the sum of all the Valkyries.
As the price for making the worst possible choice, North Korea's cities and the entire nation turned to ash and vanished in a single strike.
Of course, I'm not saying Odin did the right thing.
No matter how much they struck first, her actions went beyond the limit.
Strictly speaking, we are strangers who crossed over from another world.
Odin's act of crushing a city in a single blow would only instill wariness in the natives living in this world.
Before I knew it, I had flown and arrived in the airspace above Asgard.
From above, I looked down at Odin, who was floating in mid-air.
Odin, who had been staring at the scene of destruction she had caused, turned her gaze toward me.
In her one eye, which I was finally facing directly, madness and profound wisdom coexisted.
"You've come?"
"The prank went too far, Odin."
"I'm the one who decides that, Nidhogg."
'Is this bitch serious?'
Here I am thinking that cooperation with humans might become a pain in the ass because of the mess she made, and what's with that confident attitude?
Does she really intend to achieve world conquest with 'just' Asgard?
Without any mercy, my roughly erupting momentum and Magic Power clashed with Odin's.
Kurureung—
The things I've faced since coming to this world until now.
Giants, Bia, the Dragon King, and so on.
Odin's power is so overwhelming that it feels like an insult to even compare her to any of them.
Therefore, I'll give it my all.
A push-out by releasing a massive amount of Magic Power.
From that aftermath alone, the surroundings are dyed dark, and the atmosphere becomes distorted.
No matter how much it's Odin, in terms of pure quantity of Magic Power and physical weight class, I am clearly superior.
The winner of the Magic Power struggle that continued for a moment was me.
Odin retreated slightly in the air and used magic to block the surging storm of Magic Power.
"Still that ignorant amount of Magic Power, I see."
"Did you spit out that nonsense about me coming under you while relying on only that much power?"
"Not a chance."
"Then you'd better show me something before you get trampled like a bug."
Odin, who gave a smirk, grabbed the air and pulled.
Then, space split open, and something popped out from within.
A staff with a length roughly equal to Odin's height.
I don't know what kind of abilities the staff possesses, but I recognized the material instantly.
'A branch of Yggdrasil?'
Moreover, it's a staff made using a branch that possesses such vast Magic Power and life force that it's hard to even compare it to the roots I used to eat.
"I'll show you my full power."
Odin, who grabbed and raised the staff, went Kung! and struck the empty air.
Then, centered around the spot where the staff struck, dozens of magic circles decorated the air.
"O lightning."
One of the magic circles emitted a bright light, and golden lightning that started from there flew toward me.
Naturally, the moment I moved my body to avoid the lightning, the lightning turned toward me as if it had a will of its own.
"A homing function?"
"Fufu, I wonder."
I evaded the lightning a few more times, but each time, the lightning turned toward me, and now it even split into several branches as it targeted me.
'It feels strangely familiar for some reason.'
The lightning Odin fired is somehow familiar.
I rolled my brain to recall the identity of this strange sense of déjà vu.
The guy who used golden lightning was...
"Thor's lightning?"
"Correct."
Authority is no different from a god's identity.
It is the domain they preside over and the source of their power.
But to use another god's Authority?
And to use the Authority of Thor, who was considered her equal?
I recalled the last image I saw of Thor.
At that time, Thor was fighting Jormungandr and was in a state of being poisoned by his venom.
And Jormungandr's poison is strong enough to be compared to my own.
Unless a miracle occurred, Thor's death was as good as confirmed.
"I confirmed Thor's death with my own two eyes. So why are you using his Authority?"
"Fufu, don't look at me so scarily. It's not like I stole Thor's Authority or anything, okay? Rather, this is power that Thor himself handed over, knowing his own fate."
"He handed over his Authority?"
Is such a thing even possible?
I glared at the lightning that was tenaciously sticking to me.
No matter how I look at it, it's Thor's lightning.
In a short moment, it had already split into hundreds, then thousands of branches, and I felt that just continuing to dodge the approaching lightning was a waste of stamina.
I could just endure that much with my body, but if I did that, all the dodging I'd done so far would be for nothing.
'Shall I give it a try?'
A good idea suddenly occurred to me.
The knowledge of Techniques I received from the Dragon King.
I'll try utilizing that.
Since I had practiced whenever I had spare time since returning from the Dragon King's palace, using the Techniques wasn't difficult.
"Water Mirror"
The quickly woven formula glowed, and water appeared in the air.
The water clumped into a circle, surrounding me like a film.
When the lightning touched it, the direction the lightning was heading was fired back at Odin.
It's the effect of the Water Mirror, which sends back long-range attacks.
Odin widened her eyes at the returning lightning and swung her staff to use another spell.
Then, another magic circle glowed, and the lightning dispersed before it could even touch her.
She seemed more surprised by the fact that I used a Technique than by Thor's lightning returning without dealing any damage.
"Magic?"
"It's not magic, it's a Technique."
"I don't know what the difference is, but this is the first I've heard that you knew how to use such power."
"Do I have to report every single thing I'm capable of to you?"
"That's true. Then shall we see how far you can go?"
Tung—
As the staff struck the air, Magic Power vibrated, and this time, three magic circles glowed simultaneously.
Among them was the magic circle containing Thor's Authority that she had used a moment ago.
"Lightning. Rotation. Emission."
"Water Mirror"
The lightning was compressed into one spot and glowed golden.
And as it began to rotate rapidly at a chaotic speed, it glowed white beyond golden.
Finally, it flew toward me, becoming a single line.
The beam of lightning collided with the Water Mirror I had cast, and a massive roar resounded.
With a screeching sound, the rotating lightning gradually began to pierce the Water Mirror and poke its head inside.
At this rate, the Water Mirror would be pierced in no time.
I used a new Technique.
"Circulation"
The water covering the exterior swirled upward.
The beam of lightning that was piercing through the Water Mirror was swept away by the swirling flow of water and barely managed to turn its direction upward.
The Water Mirror's repulsive force to reflect the attack.
The Circulation's ability to twist the direction of the attack as desired.
If even one of them had been missing, the firepower was enough to have pierced through and hit me directly.
"If three won't do, how about seven?"
Tung—
This time, seven magic circles emitted light.
"Lightning. Flame. Amplification. Compression. Rotation. Emission. Explosion."
"Water Mirror. Circulation. White Wave"
Odin's attack was already no different from a natural disaster.
A torrent of massive power reminiscent of a volcanic eruption.
A lump of Magic Power flew toward me, intending to crush me.
The Water Mirror collapsed without even holding out for a moment, and the Circulation only slightly twisted the direction.
The white foam created by the White Wave covered the attack, but even that was quickly pierced through.
I tried to activate the next Technique, but since I wasn't used to it and high-level Techniques still took time, I couldn't think of a way to block the attack.
"Fine, since when did I ever rely on this kind of power anyway."
I withdrew the Magic Power I was using for the Techniques and wrapped all my Magic Power around my body.
For a moment, the things that had happened since I crossed over to this world flashed through my mind.
How much have I held back until now?
For several months, I've been cleaning up after others and holding back on things I could have solved so easily if I had just exerted my proper full power.
It's time to return to being Nidhogg, the Dragon of Disaster and Hatred.
First is the attack flying from the front.
Toward that lump of lightning and fire, I swung my forepaw with all my might as if I were performing a dunk.
Kwang! As soon as it collided with my forepaw with a loud sound, the lump of Magic Power exploded.
But my scales can't be pierced by just this much.
Smiling satisfactorily at the scales that didn't even have a scratch, I flapped my wings and flew toward Odin.
In an instant, I closed the distance and swung the forepaw that had detonated the Magic Power lump at Odin this time.
"Fufu, after all that talk about Techniques and whatnot, was that all?"
"This is my specialty to begin with."
The forepaw I swung with all my might passed through Odin and swept through the empty air.
Odin vanished, scattering like smoke as if she hadn't been in that spot from the beginning.
But my eyes can't be fooled by a mere illusion of that level.
I immediately opened my mouth toward the real location where Odin was and exhaled Poison Breath.
Then, the Poison Breath covered the entire area around the space where Odin was standing.
My poison is a poison that can kill even a god.
If hit head-on, even Odin cannot ignore it.
Facing the poison that would melt everything in an instant, Odin calmly swung her staff.
A new magic circle glowed.
What's the effect this time?
I was able to notice immediately what effect the new magic circle possessed.
Because Odin vanished from that spot and appeared behind me in the next moment.
Spatial movement magic.
I remember it being a fairly high-grade magic.
But did she think she could escape my Poison Breath just by moving her location?
I turned my head and continued to spew Poison Breath toward the spot where Odin appeared.
Realizing that she couldn't block it by just dodging, Odin used another magic once again.
This time, she split a rift in space just like when she took out her staff, and then she sucked in all of my poison through that gap.
In a voice fed up with Odin, who really uses all sorts of magic, I asked.
"Just how far can you go with magic?"
"I wonder? Wouldn't it be faster to ask what I don't know how to do rather than what I do?"
Odin, who is said to have obtained fragments of omniscience and omnipotence by offering herself as a sacrifice.
It seems those rumors were true after all.